FUCKED UP
David Comes to Life
Matador
Rating: 
Fucked Up never take the easy way. There’s the NSFW name, for one, and singer Damian “Pink Eyes” Abraham’s tendency to spend the band’s ferocious live shows shirtless, jiggling his bearish body. And now comes this 78-minute rock opera about no-hopers stuck in Margaret Thatcher’s England. Let’s be clear: This shouldn’t work. But holy hell, does it ever! Across 18 never-dull tracks, the band’s kidney-punching crunch is leavened by Britpop melodies (“Turn the Season”), dreamy guitar swirls (“Under My Nose”), and cooing female back ing vox (“The Other Shoe”). It’s a towering achievement, one that both celebrates punk’s performative spirit and glories in its ever-rebellious beating heart.
